A Short History of the World. - Antilogicalism

1 A Short History of the World. Wells A Short History of the World. Table of Contents A Short History of the I. The World in II. The World in III. The Beginnings of IV. The Age of V. The Age of the Coal VI. The Age of VII. The First Birds and the First VIII. The Age of IX. Monkeys, Apes and Sub X. The Neanderthaler and the Rhodesian XI. The First True XII. Primitive XIII. The Beginnings of XIV. Primitive Neolithic XV. Sumeria, Early Egypt and XVI. Primitive Nomadic XVII. The First Sea going XVIII. Egypt, Babylon and XIX. The Primitive XX. The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius XXI. The Early History of the XXII. Priests and Prophets in XXIII. The XXIV. The Wars of the Greeks and XXV. The Splendour of XXVI. The Empire of Alexander the XXVII. The Museum and Library at XXVIII. The Life of Gautama XXIX. King XXX. Confucius and Lao XXXI. Rome Comes into XXXII. Rome and XXXIII. The Growth of the Roman XXXIV.

2 Between Rome and XXXV. The Common Man's Life under the Early Roman XXXVI. Religious Developments under the Roman XXXVII. The Teaching of XXXVIII. The Development of Doctrinal XXXIX. The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and XL. The Huns and the End of the Western XLI. The Byzantine and Sassanid XLII. The Dynasties of Suy and Tang in XLIII. Muhammad and XLIV. The Great Days of the XLV. The Development of Latin XLVI. The Crusades and the Age of Papal i A Short History of the World. Table of Contents A Short History of the World. XLVII. Recalcitrant Princes and the Great XLVIII. The Mongol XLIX. The Intellectual Revival of the L. The Reformation of the Latin LI. The Emperor Charles LII. The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Republicanism in LIII. The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and LIV. The American War of LV. The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in LVI.

3 The Uneasy Peace in Europe That Followed the Fall of LVII. The Development of Material LVIII. The Industrial LIX. The Development of Modern Political and Social LX. The Expansion of the United LXI. The Rise of Germany to Predominance in LXII. The New Overseas Empires of Steamship and LXIII. European Aggression in Asia, and the Rise of LXIV. The British Empire in LXV. The Age of Armament in Europe, and the Great War of 1914 LXVI. The Revolution and Famine in LXVII. The Political and Social Reconstruction of the ii A Short History of the World. Wells This page copyright 2002 Blackmask Online. I. The World in Space II. The World in Time III. The Beginnings of Life IV. The Age of Fishes V. The Age of the Coal Swamps VI. The Age of Reptiles VII. The First Birds and the First Mammals VIII. The Age of Mammals IX. Monkeys, Apes and Sub men X. The Neanderthaler and the Rhodesian Man XI. The First True Men XII. Primitive Thought XIII.

4 The Beginnings of Cultivation XIV. Primitive Neolithic Civilizations XV. Sumeria, Early Egypt and Writing XVI. Primitive Nomadic Peoples XVII. The First Sea going Peoples XVIII. Egypt, Babylon and Assyria XIX. The Primitive Aryans XX. The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius I. XXI. The Early History of the Jews XXII. Priests and Prophets in Judea XXIII. The Greeks XXIV. The Wars of the Greeks and Persians XXV. The Splendour of Greece XXVI. The Empire of Alexander the Great XXVII. The Museum and Library at Alexandria XXVIII. The Life of Gautama Buddha XXIX. King Asoka XXX. Confucius and Lao Tse XXXI. Rome Comes into History XXXII. Rome and Carthage XXXIII. The Growth of the Roman Empire XXXIV. Between Rome and China XXXV. The Common Man's Life under the Early Roman Empire XXXVI. Religious Developments under the Roman Empire XXXVII. The Teaching of Jesus XXXVIII. The Development of Doctrinal Christianity XXXIX.

5 The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and West XL. The Huns and the End of the Western Empire XLI. The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires XLII. The Dynasties of Suy and Tang in China A Short History of the World. 1. A Short History of the World. XLIII. Muhammad and Islam XLIV. The Great Days of the Arabs XLV. The Development of Latin Christendom XLVI. The Crusades and the Age of Papal Dominion XLVII. Recalcitrant Princes and the Great Schism XLVIII. The Mongol Conquests XLIX. The Intellectual Revival of the Europeans L. The Reformation of the Latin Church LI. The Emperor Charles V. LII. The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Republicanism in Europe LIII. The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and Overseas LIV. The American War of Independence LV. The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in France LVI. The Uneasy Peace in Europe That Followed the Fall of Napoleon LVII.

6 The Development of Material Knowledge LVIII. The Industrial Revolution LIX. The Development of Modern Political and Social Ideas LX. The Expansion of the United States LXI. The Rise of Germany to Predominance in Europe LXII. The New Overseas Empires of Steamship and Railway LXIII. European Aggression in Asia, and the Rise of Japan LXIV. The British Empire in 1914. LXV. The Age of Armament in Europe, and the Great War of 1914 18. LXVI. The Revolution and Famine in Russia LXVII. The Political and Social Reconstruction of the World I. The World in Space THE STORY of our world is a story that is still very imperfectly known. A couple of hundred years ago men possessed the History of little more than the last three thousand years. What happened before that time was a matter of legend and speculation. Over a large part of the civilized world it was believed and taught that the world had been created suddenly in 4004 , though authorities differed as to whether this had occurred in the spring or autumn of that year.

7 This fantastically precise misconception was based upon a too literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and upon rather arbitrary theological assumptions connected therewith. Such ideas have long since been abandoned by religious teachers, and it is universally recognized that the universe in which we live has to all appearances existed for an enormous period of time and possibly for endless time. Of course there may be deception in these appearances, as a room may be made to seem endless by putting mirrors facing each other at either end. But that the universe in which we live has existed only for six or seven thousand years may be regarded as an altogether exploded idea. The earth, as everybody knows nowadays, is a spheroid, a sphere slightly compressed, orange fashion, with a diameter of nearly 8,000 miles. Its spherical shape has been known at least to a limited number of intelligent people for nearly 2,500 years, but before that time it was supposed to be flat, and various ideas which now seem fantastic were entertained about its relations to the sky and the stars and planets.

8 We know now that it rotates upon its axis (which is about 24 miles shorter than its equatorial diameter) every twenty four hours, and that this is the cause of the alternations of day and night, that it circles about the sun in a slightly distorted and slowly variable oval path in a year. Its distance from the sun varies between ninety one and a half millions at its nearest and ninety four and a half million miles. About the earth circles a smaller sphere, the moon, at an average distance of 239,000 miles. Earth and moon are I. The World in Space 2. A Short History of the World. not the only bodies to travel round the sun. There are also the planets, Mercury and Venus, at distances of thirty six and sixty seven millions of miles; and beyond the circle of the earth and disregarding a belt of numerous smaller bodies, the planetoids, there are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune at mean distances of 141, 483, 886, 1,782, and 1,793 millions of miles respectively.

9 These figures in millions of miles are very difficult for the mind to grasp. It may help the reader's imagination if we reduce the sun and planets to a smaller, more conceivable scale. If, then, we represent our earth as a little ball of one inch diameter, the sun would be a big globe nine feet across and 323 yards away, that is about a fifth of a mile, four or five minutes' walking. The moon would be a small pea two feet and a half from the world. Between earth and sun there would be the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus, at distances of one hundred and twenty five and two hundred and fifty yards from the sun. All round and about these bodies there would be emptiness until you came to Mars, a hundred and seventy five feet beyond the earth; Jupiter nearly a mile away, a foot in diameter; Saturn, a little smaller, two miles off; Uranus four miles off and Neptune six miles off. Then nothingness and nothingness except for small particles and drifting scraps of attenuated vapour for thousands of miles.

10 The nearest star to earth on this scale would be 40,000 miles away. These figures will serve perhaps to give one some conception of the immense emptiness of space in which the drama of life goes on. For in all this enormous vacancy of space we know certainly of life only upon the surface of our earth. It does not penetrate much more than three miles down into the 4,000 miles that separate us from the centre of our globe, and it does not reach more than five miles above its surface. Apparently all the limitlessness of space is otherwise empty and dead. The deepest ocean dredgings go down to five miles. The highest recorded flight of an aeroplane is little more than four miles. Men have reached to seven miles up in balloons, but at a cost of great suffering. No bird can fly so high as five miles, and small birds and insects which have been carried up by aeroplanes drop off insensible far below that level.